Book sale & Cafe Press products to save Magoo

I met Chris right after hurricane Katrina. Her story of survival and rescuing her cats is amazing.
She, along with many residents, continues to struggle to put their lives back together and recover financially.

One of her rescues is Magoo. He had been losing weight and not too interested in eating. She rushed him off to the vet and found that Mago has squamous cell carcinoma under his tongue. Chris is beyond devastated that she is low in funds to save her baby. She has a great vet who is keeping the costs down. She is gathering the financial information required by IMOM.org to help raise funds but hasn't been accepted as a PIN (Pet In Need) yet.

One of the ways Chris makes ends meet is selling books (mostly textbooks) she finds at flea markets or garage sales. All of the proceeds go to the veterinary care and feeding of rescued cats, some with disabilities.

I'm spreading the word in case you are in the market for some books or know someone who is. Please check out her store. If/when her application is accepted at IMOM, I'll post the link to her fundraising thread here and in Cat General.

If you have any experience with squamous cell carcinoma in cats or words of encouragement, please let me know and I'll pass them on to her.

Thank you.

Last edited by kuhio98; 07-15-2013 at 12:35 PM.

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

My experience

I had a seven year old cat diagnosed with the same type of cancer under her tongue. My vet told me that cats need their tongues to survive and eat and that it was not possible to remove the cancer and save the tongue. Mandy was sent to Rainbow Bridge to save her the pain and torture of suffering a horrible death from the progression of the cancer. I say this sweet kitty should be sent to the Bridge and save the cat the pain of surgery etc. only to die from starvation because it will not have the ability to lap its food and water.

I had a seven year old cat diagnosed with the same type of cancer under her tongue. My vet told me that cats need their tongues to survive and eat and that it was not possible to remove the cancer and save the tongue. Mandy was sent to Rainbow Bridge to save her the pain and torture of suffering a horrible death from the progression of the cancer. I say this sweet kitty should be sent to the Bridge and save the cat the pain of surgery etc. only to die from starvation because it will not have the ability to lap its food and water.

Sorry to hear of this but it does happen quite often.

I'm so sorry about Mandy. I will pass this info onto Chris. I'm posting an update below. I'm not sure at this point what the vet plans on injecting the tumor with.

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

My vet wants to try to shrink the tumor down and then do an injection into it - I am not yet clear about the details - I asked about having it excised and she said that she could send me over to a surgeon if I wanted. However, she said that these things almost always grow back - so she wants to try injecting it, while treating it holistically. Again, I do not know the details until the vet has a chance to go over the forms and come up with a concise plan. Labs, biopsy, to start with - Once I know all of the options, then we will take it from there. I do know that I am not going to put him through anything too traumatic - meanwhile, I am grateful that for now, while he must be in some discomfort, he is not unhappy.

This has all happened so fast - up until Thursday, I thought that I was dealing with itchy skin, hair pulling and a possible neurological problem with his extreme sensitivity. Finding that under his tongue was one of the biggest shocks that I've had with rescue cats. And one of the guiltiest as I had been in the cat's mouth three times a day for months - yet not once, looked underneath his tongue.

Anyway, I will keep all posted on his progress - hopefully, he will soon have his own posting. And recover from this - though he just turned 12 years old, he's a big strong cat - his mother was a seal point siamese (unspayed neighbor's cat) and his father was the "Monster Cat", an enormous, big headed grey/black tabby cat. It took me about a month to finally trap him - and he is one of about 4 feral cats who survived Katrina and the flooding in my old neighborhood. So Magoo does have that going for him for what that's worth.

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

...All of Magoo's xrays were clear - they revealed a slightly enlarged heart and liver but absolutely no signs of malignancy. His lab work was also good - normal liver and kidney function. He does have slightly elevated white blood cells due to a UTI that he does have. I had treated him for a suspected UTI about a month ago when another cat had one.

But the tumor in his mouth looked a little differently than it did last week. Then it was an angry red thing with ragged edges. Today, it was more of a pink color with smooth edges. My vet thinks that there is a shot that it might be lymph related and not SCC.

So he has been put on minoclycline for 8 days to treat the UTI and possible lymph node issue. The vet also told me to keep doing what I have been doing - using the calendula mouth rinse with the few drops of grapefruit seed extract in it. She was not too wild about the Low Dose Naltrexone that I had started him on a few weeks back - but I will keep him on that.

She wants to wait and see until next week before referring him for a biopsy. Keeping fingers crossed that we might not even get to that step.

The total bill came to $172.97 which was not as bad as I feared.

So overall, it was somewhat encouraging - a heck of a lot better than the alternative.
Thanks for your support!

Chris and Magoo

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa

That vet also thinks that it might be some kind of weird rodent ulcer - but Magoo will finally have biopsy next Tuesday. Someone else suggested the Onyx and Breezy foundation and they approved the $466.86 estimate for Magoo's surgery!! Halleluyah!! Now, we just have to pray for benign results ....

Spoke with vet this a.m. And of course, until he gets in there, he can't tell if it will be a simple biopsy or if he will be able to excise the mass. We shall see. I am to bring him in for 7:30 tomorrow - and the vet told me to be prepared to come and get him at quick notice. They want to ship them home as soon as possible, which is fine with me - But again, depends on how invasive the biopsy turns out to be .The vet did say that the estimate would cover whatever he ended up doing.

But never enough funding so am still plotting and planning ways to help Magoo I worked a bit on my nola hepper blog and resurrected a DONATE paypal button - also stuck Magoo's picture on some CafePress stuff - he's got his own product line!

The doctor excised most of the growth underneath Magoo's tongue - he thinks that he got most of it - any more cutting and it would have affected his tongue. The pathology report will take about a week or so to come back, though the doctor believes that it is SCC. He did say that there was hope as he might have gotten enough of the growth and that it is not in his lower jaw. Keeping fingers crossed.

Magoo will recuperate for a few days - the stitches will dissolve over time. I was given some liquid opioids for his pain(buprenorphine) He is still feeling the anesthetic but very, very hungry. I felt so bad for him this morning (and the others) as I had picked up all the kibble dishes last night and they were not happy! I gave him the juice of some canned food - at first, he pawed alarmingly at his tongue - which resulted in a somewhat panicked call to the vet! - but now seems to be more used to it. Hoping that he will improve in the next couple of days. He's a good boy.

And he's probably doing better than Mom! I think that we all suffer more than our animals do.

Thanks all again for your help and support - the biopsy is done and now we just have to hope for the best.

I was very thankfully able to get funding from the wonderful Onyx & Breezy Foundation -

But mostly, I really want to thank you for your support - this has been an emotionally draining experience for both Magoo and I. He is such a good boy who, thankfully, up until a few months ago, never had a sick day in his 12 year old life - including his two week Katrina ordeal - even then, he really did not even need the sub-q fluids. Oral SCC is an awful disease that no one should ever get - or deserve to get - Magoo certainly doesn't. But it is certainly unfair that this sweet boy must go through this.

Thank you all so much for your support!

Chris and Magoo

Ask your vet about microchipping. ~ It could have saved Kuhio's life. And it cost Halo hers.Ask your vet about Polycystic kidney disease ~~ Rest in peace WillyLoved by Lisa